Between Matilde and the Internet:

Computerizing the University of Costa

Rica (1968–1993)
 n-Saravia, and David Chavarrıa-Camacho
Ronny J. Viales-Hurtado, Ana Lucıa Caldero
University of Costa Rica

Focusing on the process of computerization at the University of Costa Rica

(UCR) between 1968 and 1993, this article emphasizes the historical
interactions among scientists, students, and institutions, while showing the
main debates and features of a specific technological project. The analysis
centers on the period between the acquisition of UCR’s first mainframe for
numerical data processing and its connection to the Internet.

Unlike other Latin American countries, such
as Brazil and Mexico,1 Costa Rica did not pro-
mote a national industry of computers in the
late 20th century. This situation meant the
computer sciences and informatics programs
and resources of the University of Costa Rica
(UCR) were dependent on capital from for-
eign companies, which limited the nation’s
ability to develop technology. In fact, as we
demonstrate here, even institutional efforts
and public policies were not able to limit the
influence of the transnational market over
this economic sector. This situation impacted
every area involved in the acquisition of com-
puter technology at UCR.
This article presents a general study of the
process of computerization at UCR between
1968 and 1993 by focusing on the analysis of
computers and the way this technology histor-
ically modified the interactions among differ-
ent human organizations. As researchers have
preciously demonstrated, the positive or nega-
tive outcomes of adopting computers during
this time period had a direct impact on the
administrative, scientific, and educational pro-
ductivity within higher education institutions
in Latin American countries. We have been
able determine how the technological back-
ground of the Central American region, in the
specific case of computer science development,
was characterized by technological depend-
ence on large transnational corporations and
an economic subjection to international finan-
cial organizations, such as the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB).
This article is based on the analysis of sec-
ondary sources and from primary sources in
the newspapers La Nacion, La Repu blica, Sema-
nario Universidad, El Universitario, and La Prensa
Libre. We also use administrative documents
from the Computer Center (CI) Archives and
the University of Costa Rica’s University
Council meeting minutes.2 Likewise, we con-
ducted interviews with key actors who partici-
pated in this historic process.3
To begin, we study the earliest adoption of
“modern technology” during 1955 and 1968
when the university trustees tried to make the
computing of data for administrative work
more efficient. Next, we analyze the adoption
of computational technology between 1968
and 1993. We explore the institutionalization
of computer technology by researchers, admin-
istrative, and professors working in specific
departments. We also explore the relationship
between IBM and UCR during this period.
Finally, we study the origins and expansion of
data transmissions to the Central American
region at institutional, interuniversity, and
international levels.
Computer Science, Computing, and
UCR Background (1955–1968)
The University of Costa Rica was the single
public higher education institution in the
country between 1940 and the early 1970s.

IEEE Annals of the History of Computing Published by the IEEE Computer Society 1058-6180/15/$31.00 c 2015 IEEE 29
 Between Matilde and the Internet: Computerizing the University of Costa Rica (1968–1993)
The University of Costa
Rica was the single
public higher education
institution in the country
between 1940 and the
early 1970s.
As early as 1955, UCR began to use the con-
cept of data “computing,” a term referring to
the accounting process of substantive institu-
tional activities, mainly in the administration
field. A major concern the trustees held at
that time was to create a mechanized
accounting system that would keep track of
the number of credits enrolled by students,
payment records, leaves of absences, and
pensions. All this led to the creation of a
Mechanized Technical Office, with its respec-
tive equipment. By 1958, UCR used a special
accounting machine to get mechanized regis-
tration receipts. This process, in turn, trig-
gered an interest in the developing of what
was then called “modern technology.”
In 1960, Guillermo Chaverri, professor and
dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, com-
municated to the University Council the
need to mechanize the Registrar’s Office, pre-
senting the possibility of buying or renting
IBM machines, following the lead of the
National Bank of Costa Rica (BNCR). Accord-
ing to Chaverri, the “quick and precise work
that mechanical equipment can perform”4
would make the work more efficient and
reduce labor because “it would not require
additional staff for, at least, several years.”4
Chaverri’s specific proposal consisted of rent-
ing an IBM machine to grade the admission
tests in 1961. The chosen equipment was an
IBM 3000, which in 1962 was replaced by an
IBM 21 model. After these tests, the university
valued the possibility of acquiring a Royal
McBee system.
Finally, in 1963, UCR contacted the Costa
Rica’s IBM branch in obtain access to hard-
ware to mechanize operations in the Regis-
trar’s Office, Departments of Administration
and Finance, Main Library, and Statistics
Institute. The university decided that three
employees would work on punching cards
30 IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
and data verification. This technological leap
was possible because, in 1964, Walter Sagot,
professor and associate dean of the College of
Engineering, submitted to Carlos Monge,
professor and rector (president) of the Uni-
versity of Costa Rica, a program that the
School of Engineering approved for two
new academic sections: electrical engineering
and mechanical engineering. Additionally,
this proposal included the establishment
of an Electronic Calculating Center, “with
technical-mathematical computers”5 that
could offer business services, but they had to
also be available for students.6
According to Sagot, UCR was disorganized
because it had six rented computers working
only three hours per day. Sagot proposed the
creation of an Electronic Computing Center
for the College of Engineering. The efforts to
acquire technology continued for several
years while the trustees sought an agreement
with IBM. Mario Carranza, IBM’s general rep-
resentative in Costa Rica, negotiated with
UCR the purchase of “electronic equipment
IBM 1620” that would be placed in the Com-
puting Center. Because of financing prob-
lems, this purchase depended on formalizing
credit with the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB), which at that time, was estab-
lished as a transnational actor promoting
technology transference.7 A credit agreement
totaling US$137,000 was signed in 1967. The
university’s goal was to improve teaching and
research in technological fields, particularly
in engineering, agronomy, and pharmacy.
The College of Engineering would receive up
to US$48,000 for the civil engineering pro-
gram and the Computer Center; that in-
cluded an electronic computer that had to be
available for accounting and registration uses
at UCR.8
Even though UCR launched the Computer
Center in 1968, Gil Chaverri, an outstanding
Costa Rican chemist and physicist, asserted
that this project “was born and has all the
fondness of the College of Engineering … how-
ever, it is a Center that could perfectly be in
and belong to the School of Physics and Math-
ematics.”9 At that moment, the dispute over
the control of computing sciences at UCR
became more evident among those disciplines.
Institutionalization of Computer
Science at UCR (1968–1993)
The IBM 1620 mainframe data processing sys-
tem was placed in the Electronic Calculating
Center in the Department of Electrical and
Mechanical Engineering, under the purchasing
specifications given by IBM. It was to be the
main component for educational institutions,
instruction, and research, solving university
(principally graduate theses) and other uni-
versity problems as well as administration
tasks. UCR also intended to sell services to
public and private institutions.10 Altogether,
these were great technological challenges of a
very diverse nature. This computer was part
of the IBM’s inventory between 1959 and
1970, which means that the university
acquired the system during the last years of its
production.11
The Mechanized Technical Section in
charge of the Unit Registration System and the
Electronic Calculating Center worked as the
institutional entities dedicated to computer-
ized data processing to provide the initial impe-
tus to the university’s computerization process.
This first phase in the history of computer sci-
ence in Costa Rica extended until at least 1973,
when the University Council agreed to create
the Computer Center (hereinafter the CI).12 At
that time, authorities took apart the computer
tasks from the College of Engineering and
defined them as a direct dependence of the
President’s Office. This period was character-
ized as representing a nonformalized manage-
ment model. Under the CI, the mainframe
IBM 1620 was primarily used to experiment
with numerical calculations using the Fortran
language and was applied to research and pre-
paring computer science major courses.13 This
was the first specialization in the emerging
Graduate Study Program at UCR, which was
just evolving in 1972.14
After 1974, with the “Development Plan
for the Computer Center” led by Mario Feoli
(an engineer and the first CI director) and the
execution of a new agreement with IBM, the
company donated an IBM 360/40—the larg-
est computer in Central America at the
time.15 With the new system, UCR efforts
focused on training professionals in computer
science and statistical research and as a
“service and support unit for the design, devel-
opment, programming, production, imple-
mentation, and maintenance of information
systems.”16
The late 1970s were productive years with
respect to training students in the computer
science field and the development of com-
munications that began bringing communi-
cation experts to the country. In 1979, as a
result of the technical cooperation provided
by the Organization of American States
(OAS), a Brazilian expert, Liane Margarita
Rockenbach, visited the UCR campus to give
advice on a project for the design and imple-
mentation of an interconnected telephone
line network and to teach a short seminar
on the subject.17 This was an important
precedent in order to establish a telephone
connection with the international and inter-
university network Bitnet. In April 1979, IBM
hired Fred Stahl, a computer science expert
from the University of Illinois and the Uni-
versity of Columbia, to visit the country as
part of a technical assistance program for
Latin American higher education institu-
tions.18 Two years earlier, in 1977, another
expert, Mario Schkolnick from the University
of Chile, who worked as a researcher at the
Department of Computer Science at IBM lab-
oratories in California, gave two lectures on
models and methods to access databases.19
In 1981, this training process for teachers
and students20 culminated with the opening
of the School of Computer and Information
Sciences (ECCI), which become the entity in
charge of the teaching functions previously
assigned to the CI. At that moment, the Com-
puter Center was engaged exclusively in
“promoting, leading, and supporting the
transference, adaptation, generation, and dif-
fusion of Computer Science as technology,
according to substantive and support activities
to the University of Costa Rica,”16 thus being
forced to be separate from teaching activities.
Between 1986 and 1990, the CI imple-
mented the first “Plan for Computing Devel-
opment for the University of Costa Rica.”
The CI chose to develop this project because
of a shortfall of services during these years.
Through this plan, UCR launched a number
of information systems to meet the data com-
munication and digitalization needs of the
university’s main administrative depart-
ments. This plan is still updated every four
years, according to institutional needs.21 At
that time, the CI had been engaged since
1987 in the development of a number of
“Data Transmission Systems for UCR,” with
which it intended to connect the university
computer systems to the international net-
work Bitnet.22 Finally, in 1993, under the
leadership of UCR, with joint efforts of other
public institutions, Costa Rica was able to
connect to the Internet for the first time,
placing itself on the leading edge of informa-
tion sciences throughout the Central Ameri-
can region.23
Matilde: The First Mainframe at UCR
UCR acquired its IBM 1620 thanks to a credit
extended by the IDB, with a 60 percent
October–December 2015 31
 Between Matilde and the Internet: Computerizing the University of Costa Rica (1968–1993)
Figure 1. Funeral of Matilde on the campus of the
University of Costa Rica. The IBM 1620
mainframe computer operated between 1968
and 1981. The sign reads “Goodbye Matilde.”27
discount from IBM and a full tax exemption.
The final system price was of US$70,000.24
In October 1968, this device was placed
in the Electronic Calculating Center. Five
months later, it had worked a total of 553
hours, helping with the academic tasks of
approximately 142 students, 19 researchers,
and three state institutions: the National Serv-
ice of Aqueducts and Sewers (SNAA), the
Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE), and
the Ministry of Transport. UCR had also sold
services to a private company.25 This repre-
sented a positive change when compared
with the situation during the first half of the
decade, when some devices operated only
three hours per day.
The IBM 1620 operated until 1981, when
UCR ended a controversial agreement with
IBM Costa Rica, which we describe shortly.
Throughout its years of service, students and
faculty referred to this computer as Matilde, a
name that was “very coquettish and bright
[for] this short and condescending lady,” as
the press noted. This process of social appro-
priation of technology by giving it female
name originated with the students of the Elec-
tronic Computing course in the College of
32 IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
Engineering10 who held a contest to assign
the computer a name.26 Newspapers in those
days gave many human characteristics to Mat-
ilde, calling her a haughty, coquettish, femi-
nine, and shrewd young lady—“She is a true
lady, who likes listening to music, games and
drawings.”24,26 When Matilde ceased opera-
tions in May, many people went to her
“funeral” (see Figure 1).27 The computer was
placed on the back of a pickup truck, and a
group of students and faculty held a farewell
parade around campus to thank her for all her
years of service to statistical data computing.28
Matilde’s Family Grows (1968–1993)
According to the press, students, and faculty,
Matilde had a sister, nephew, and son: Cleo-
tilde, Novita, and Cesar. Cleotilde came to
the institution as the product of an agree-
ment signed between UCR and IBM in 1973
that allowed the creation of the CI. This com-
puter was an IBM 360/40 model and used for
teaching and research. It worked together
with Matilde until 1981, when the relation-
ship between UCR and IBM was momentarily
terminated. On 31 May 1973 at midnight,
Cleotilde processed its last sheet and it read
as follows: “At this time, we say goodbye to
Cleotilde and we accompany her in her last
printed page. Goodbye.”29 Novita, Matilde’s
nephew which was acquired in 1978, con-
sisted of a Data General Nova 3/D minicom-
puter, dedicated to online data capture.
After a first phase characterized by the use
of IBM equipment, through agreements with
that company and funding provided by inter-
national financial entities, UCR began to pur-
chase equipment distributed by Burroughs,
which by the late 1980s changed its name to
Unisys. According to our sources, UCR justi-
fied the use of Burroughs computers under
the criteria that the company had a lot of
equipment installed in Costa Rica, an
advanced architecture, and high-quality sup-
port.30 During this transition between 1981
and the first months of 1982, UCR had a num-
ber of problems providing accounting services
to the administrative departments because
of the general lack of computers and the
poor conditions of the laboratory facilities. A
newspaper warned, “The University could be
paralyzed due to a lack of computers.”31
According to this source, specialized research
would be severely affected because all IBM
equipment had been shut off; all the univer-
sity’s user demands had to be met by a small
Burroughs B1860 model that had been rented
in 1980.
 According to our sources, this situation
was partially solved when the cumbersome
public bid process funded by a new IDB loan
was completed, and Burroughs won the con-
tract.32 Honeywell and IBM also participated
in this bid, and the latter appealed the deci-
sion of the Comptroller General of the
Republic, arguing that Burroughs did not
meet all the technical requirements specified
in the tender document. The tension gener-
ated between both companies wanting to
place their equipment and services at the uni-
versity resulted, in short, in a considerable
delay in the commissioning of the new com-
puters. In 1982, once the conflict was re-
solved in favor of Burroughs, a model B6920
was installed that had 20 terminals for indi-
vidual users.33 Even that was not enough to
meet the demands in the years immediately
following.
The new B6920 system was masculinized
with the name Cesar. With “him,” the teach-
ing and research tasks were separated from
those of development and maintenance
within UCR.30 In 1981, the ECCI resulted
from this division of computing tasks, gener-
ating a controversy on technical and admin-
istrative levels. Prior to that year, UCR had
two distinct majors in computer science. One
was under the CI, attached directly to the
President’s Office, that taught courses on
managing software packages, statistics, and
programming. The other was in the Depart-
ment of Communication Sciences, attached
to the School of Mathematics, and taught 30
percent of its courses on topics related to
computer science.34 Initially, there was a pro-
posal to merge the two majors into one
attached to the College of Engineering. How-
ever, the Board of Directors reconsidered this
proposal and decided that a new department
of computer science would be attached to the
College of Sciences. Furthermore, the board
decided that, once it ceased teaching classes,
the CI would become attached to a vice presi-
dency, which meant it would lose a certain
degree of economic and administrative inde-
pendence because it would not be directly
linked to the decisions of the President’s
Office. In brief, the CI would no longer have
its own budget. This proposal, approved by
the Board of Directors, also had to be ratified
by the Collegiate Representative Assembly,35
which voted against it, thus preventing an
amendment to the Organic Statute. Finally,
the controversy was resolved when UCR
decided that the CI would continue to
depend directly on the President’s Office and
the new department would become part of
the College of Engineering—a decision the
students of that college supported through a
public rally.36
When the rental contract for the B6920
expired, UCR bought a B6900 model system.
Also, by the end of the 1980s, even though
the agreement with IBM had finished several
years ago, UCR acquired two IBM 4381 com-
puters that operated together with the Bur-
roughs B6900. Additionally, in 1990, the CI
installed an A6KS computer, through a new
agreement signed with Unisys of Central
America. This equipment replaced the pre-
vious systems for most tasks, leaving the
B6920 to serve the human resources office,
financial administration department, schol-
arship office, and Registrar’s Office. Along
with the purchase of the A6KS, Unisys do-
nated a U6000/51 model to the university
main campus that included eight terminals
for individual users, one laser printer, and 10
microcomputers for the University Regional
Campus in the Province of Limon. This event
was important for the expansion of comput-
ing systems at a national level. According to
the press, “technological development would
expand … toward less privileged regions,”
economically speaking.37
This time the agreement with Unisys was
justified on the basis that it would mean less
energy consumption, a more accessible price,
cheaper software, less room, and the exis-
tence of staff for installation and mainte-
nance. Furthermore, this purchase took place
within UCR’s 50th anniversary celebration.

At that time, in 1990, Jose Angel Rojas, engi-
neer and director of the CI, remembered that
the institution continued “to maintain the
leading role in education and computing,”
showing that it had consolidated a commun-
ity of scientists and experts with abilities to
lead the technical path of computing and
computer science on a national level.38 How-
ever, as we have seen, the main limiting fac-
tor was the inability to fund the acquisition
of appropriate equipment, and therefore,
UCR depended on the goodwill of transna-
tional corporations and companies for a one-
way technology transfer, and these foreign
companies funded and intervened directly in
most proposed projects.
The Controversial Agreement between
IBM and UCR
As we have shown, the relationship between
IBM and UCR experienced ups and downs
during the period under analysis. One of
October–December 2015 33
 Between Matilde and the Internet: Computerizing the University of Costa Rica (1968–1993)
the most important controversies in this
regard occurred in the 1970s, a period when
the Latin American social struggle showed
its anti-imperialist character, due to, among
many other factors, the political dictatorships
prevailing in various Latin American coun-
tries since the previous decade as well as the
direct political influence of the United States.
In this context, under the title “Be Alert on
the Imperialist Penetration in the University,”
a university student organization warned
Semanario Universidad readers in September
1973 about the dangers of an agreement to be
signed by UCR and IBM in a few months. The
student organization FAENA, “in strong op-
position to international consortiums, as
instruments of the imperialism oppressing
our people, call[ed] for the entire university
community” to demand the publication of
the agreement that would be signed by both
institutions. The heated title of newspaper
article in response to the fact that at the end
of the previous month, another newspaper
article in Semanario Universidad had been pub-
lished stating that the Board of the Engineer-
ing Student Association had asked University
President Eugenio Rodrıguez to publish the
agreement, but he never answered their
request.39
As researcher Marta Caldero  n has shown,
the arguments against that agreement were
based on the fact that IBM had allegedly
requested that negotiations not be publicly
released by UCR. The group of students asked
why an imperialistic corporation wanted to
make such generous donations to a public
education institution in a small Central Amer-
ican country, a country that only three years
before had organized a major social move-
ment led by UCR students that protested a
major bill discussed in the National Congress
that would allow bauxite mining by the
Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA).
Despite its approval, the company decided
not to exploit the mineral deposits because its
profits would not have been large enough.
When the student association claimed
that IBM would damage the university’s
autonomy,40 there was only a draft agreement
that did not contain the amount that UCR
would have to invest in the maintenance and
commissioning of Cleotilde, an IBM 360/40
(see Figure 241). The students believed that
upon completion of the terms of the agree-
ment, IBM would be authorized to remove
the installed equipment, forcing the Elec-
tronic Calculating Center42 to pay large sums
of money to keep the equipment and con-
34 IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
tinue its academic, research, and administra-
tive activities.43 The students were partially
correct; eight years later the university had
serious supply problems when the question-
able agreement finished. Due to the contro-
versy between higher entities of UCR and
student organizations, the agreement was
made public, and the UCR approved it one
year later, in 1974. To address this contro-
versy, the university justified that the rental
price of the equipment was US$22,000 per
year, an amount that the institution could
not afford by itself, which meant that in this
type of negotiation UCR depended on trans-
national corporations to continue its develop-
ment projects.44
With that contract, IBM intended UCR to
create short and specialized majors in the
computing field to facilitate the training of
experts in technical areas. This was part of a
larger project that deputies had discussed at
the Legislative Assembly and the Costa Rican
Higher Education Council, at least since
1969. The objective was to train intermediate-
level technicians to meet the needs of the
emerging industry in Costa Rica that, in their
opinion, would expand during the following
years. This state project would undoubtedly
benefit large companies like IBM.45 Thus, in
the context of a developmental state, the idea
of creating the Technological Institute of
Costa Rica (ITCR) arose. ITCR became the sec-
ond institution of higher education in Costa
Rica. According to its mission, the ITCR
would be dedicated “exclusively to teaching
technological disciplines … with an immi-
nent pragmatic view.” This idea caused great
controversy among scholars, including engi-
neer Rodrigo Orozco Saborıo, who believed
that the education system the ITCR was going
to follow was a total anachronism because
with this it “would be creating a production
center of wild technological experts,” opposed
to the humanistic foundations promoted by
UCR. They also defended the great work
accomplished by UCR throughout its history
in the field of training technicians and engi-
neers. Nevertheless, the ITCR was founded in
1971, amidst this debate.46
First Steps Toward the Internet at UCR
Between 1978 and 1985, UCR had problems
offering computer services to its users because
the demand greatly exceeded its capacity, “to
the point that one year after it had been
installed (June 1983) it reached its saturation
limit.”47 UCR had requested the B6900 com-
puter in 1979, but it was not installed until
1982. Between the year that the study was
conducted to determine the university’s com-
puter needs and the time following the
respective bureaucratic financing and public
bid procedures, the equipment no longer met
the demands of the growing number of
users.47 By the time it was installed, the sys-
tem UCR purchased was totally outdated.
To solve this serious problem, the CI made
a plan to acquire new equipment and to
assign various computing tasks to different
university departments that requested and
saturated the systems. In 1985, engineer and
CI Director Jose Angel Rojas said,
Those departments handling more informa-
tion and needing more computing resources
have been selected. There are offices that, even
though they are important, have been over-
looked because they are not critical at the com-
putational level … We analyzed the needs of
important offices from the computing view,
such the Registrar’s Office, which handles the
data of about 30,000 students, as well as the
Financial Management Office … Teaching is
the area with the greatest pressure. Some
examples of these are the Computer Science
and Statistics majors. The Computer Science
School only has a few terminals and 14 micro-
computers available to teach its classes.47
By the late 1980s, the computing system
at UCR had approximately 70 microcom-
puters connected to mainframe terminals—a
relatively limited amount of equipment
given its number of users.48 In an attempt to
solve this problem, a committee was estab-
lished to coordinate the first “Plan for Com-
puting Development for UCR,” between
1986 and 1990. This administrative mecha-
nism is still in place, and it is updated every
four years to adapt it to the institution’s
needs. However, the development plan also
required great deal of support from IBM and
Burroughs programmers and operators.21
While this process was taking place, the
university consolidated a data transmission
system that allowed the first connection to
the Bitnet international network of scientific
information.49 However, the efforts to develop
a data transmission system at UCR can be
traced back to at least 1982, when a project
was presented to the National Council for Sci-
entific and Technological Research (CONI-
CIT) that aimed to create a network among
the four Costa Rican state universities.50
However, “various technical and economic
limiting factors”22 were encountered along
the way.
Figure 2. IBM 360/40 computer operating in 1974.41 Known as
Cleotilde, the computer was purchased by the University of Costa Rica
as part of a controversial agreement with IBM.
This situation remained unchanged until
1987, when UCR’s Data Transmission System
was promoted. It consisted of developing a
first phase of data transmission within UCR
that sought to interconnect most the micro-
computers within the main campus of the
university; this first phase was framed under
the first “Plan for Computing Development
for UCR.” The second phase of data transmis-
sion between the university system and
Bitnet was the project that realized, for the
first time, the idea of moving from mere
“computing instruments to a highly power-
ful communication instrument … that would
allow conducting research anywhere in the
world, which was then unthinkable.”51 The
great task undertaken by the UCR scientific
community “was almost impossible” when
they tried to get funds to execute an intan-
gible technological project in its initial stages,
which at that time was seen, from the admin-
istrative and financial bureaucracy stand-
point, as a mere abstraction with a very high
cost.51 Finally, the connection was attained
thanks to an agreement among various in-
stitutions, which implied interconnection
among them. The state universities, Tropical
Agricultural Center for Research and Teach-
ing (CATIE), and CONICIT agreed to create
an academic network (REDAC) that finally
established the links with Bitnet, securing the
funds to develop the project.
The agreement among these institutions
had to be formalized because the interna-
tional network did not accept the participa-
tion of intermediates in data transmission,
arguing that “Any person unrelated to state
universities could use it to make their own
financial gain.”22 This restriction forced
them not to use the Radiographic of Costa
Rica (RACSA) telephone lines that already
October–December 2015 35
 Between Matilde and the Internet: Computerizing the University of Costa Rica (1968–1993)
existed in the country,52 which could have
reduced the costs of telephonic transmission
service. Still, they asserted that, with this proj-
ect, “higher education in Costa Rica would
not only live up to modern universities in the
developed world, but it would also save time
and money.”22 By November 1990, the con-
nection to Bitnet was a reality.
The community of experts was aware of
that this network connection was only a first
step. They—and just they—knew that a con-
nection to Internet was the best option to
avoid “scientific isolation”51 because the net-
work of networks had consolidated itself into
an open system, equipped to integrate any
technology without the restrictions imposed
by large corporations. Finally, in January
1993, the state universities were able to con-
nect to Internet, and during that year, UCR
conducted workshops on its use. It also pub-
lished and sold instruction manuals explain-
ing the main Internet services, including
information, electronic mail, file transfer and
storage on floppy disks, and remote modem
communication, among others.53 Thus, UCR
began to raise awareness among the student
population and faculty on the broad implica-
tions of the Internet on the production of sci-
entific knowledge. In 1993, UCR President
Luis Garita Bonilla pointed out in a speech
that the new connections
will draw our people closer, reducing the dis-
tance of physical separation … will allow the
introduction of new elements to support the
creative and innovative activities of human
beings; future electronic highways [that] will
travel and unite all countries of the continent
and will transform the lives of communities,
homes, educational processes, and countless
cultural elements.54
The scientific and administrative com-
munity was fully aware that UCR was the
leader in the effort to establish digital com-
munications in Costa Rica. It was nearly a
decade later, the beginning of the new mil-
lennium, when the Costa Rican state finally
took the lead in the development of data
transmission technologies through the Costa
Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE).51
Conclusion
This investigation has shown that limited
access to funding for technological projects
substantially determined the possibilities of
computer development at higher education
institutions in Latin America, and it also
36 IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
defined the characteristics of the consolida-
tion process of a scientific community in the
specific case of Costa Rica. We demonstrated
how the need to acquire more and more
“modern” equipment, consistent with the
needs of several entities both inside and out-
side of UCR, led to the establishment of a
number of interinstitutional relationships,
which were mostly conflictive, involving
discussions at the political, economic, and
ideological levels and culminating in the
incorporation or lack of incorporation of
these modern technologies.
These phenomena frequently caused con-
flicts among the different areas of scientific
knowledge, as the disputes about the control
over computing and computer sciences within
UCR and the debates between the different
branches of science and the field of engineer-
ing shows. They also caused some ruptures
between institutions such as IBM and UCR.
This situation provoked conflict between the
student population and various civil society
groups. In the specific context of the Cold War,
these events evoked debate on the negative
role these transnational corporations would
have and their possible domination over pub-
lic higher education institutions within the
specific context of the anti-imperialist struggle
of the so-called “Third World” countries.
Acknowledgments
This research was conducted under the frame-
work of the Social Studies of Science, Techni-
que, and Environment Research Program of
the Center of Geophysics Research at the Uni-
versity of Costa Rica. We thank to the CI of the
University of Costa Rica for the help provided
during this research. We are thankful to the
historian David Dıaz-Arias for his valuable
review and correction to the translation of this
article, to Mario Feoli, first CI director, to Guy
de Teramond, former minister of science and
technology, and the Archives of the University
Council.
References and Notes
1. See for example E. Adler, The Power of Ideology:
The Quest for Technological Autonomy in Argen-
tina and Brazil, Univ. of California Press, 1987,
and S.R. Beck, “Computer Bargaining in M exico
and Brazil 1970–1990: Dynamic Interplay of
Industry and Politics,” PhD thesis, Dept. of Gov-
ernment, London School of Economics, 2012.
2. This section is based on a study of the following
keywords contained in the minutes of the
 university’s council: computer, calculation,
informatics, mechanized, calculating, processor,
process, technology, and IBM. The University
Council is a board of representatives from each
knowledge area of the university, and its main
duties are decision making and setting policies.
3. Interviews were conducted with the ex-directors
of the Informatics Center, Mario Feoli and Guy
de Teramond, and an operator and actual
faculty member at the CI, Eduardo Me ndez:
M. Feoli, interview by A. Lucıa Caldero  n-Saravia,
30 Jan. 2014; G. de T eramond, interview by D.
Chavarrıa-Camacho, 12 Feb. 2014; and E.
Mendez, interview by D. Chavarrıa-Camacho,
29 Jan. 2014.
4. Univ. Council, Univ. of Costa Rica, “Minutes of Ses-
sion 1067,” 20 May 1960, vol. 35, article 36, p. 393.
5. Univ. Council, Univ. of Costa Rica, “Minutes of Ses-
sion 1402,” 3 Sept. 1964, article 19, annex no. 3.
M. Caldero  n, “Clotilde: Impulsora de la formacio n
universitaria en Computacio  n e Informatica en
Costa Rica” [Clotilde: The Driver of University Edu-
cation in Computer Science and Informatics in
Costa Rica], III Simposio de Historia de la Informa -
tica en America Latina y el Caribe (SHIALC), Oct.
2014, pp. 1–3.
6. According to Mario Feoli, who was the first direc-
tor of the Computer Center, Rodrigo Orozco,
who directed the Electronic Computing Center,
“was the father of the idea to buy Matilde,” the
first IBM computer that the university acquired.
7. Univ. Council, Univ. of Costa Rica, “Minutes of
Session 1528,” 3 Oct. 1966, article 13.
8. Univ. Council, Univ. of Costa Rica, “Minutes of
Session 1600,” 3 Oct. 1967, annex no. 1.
9. Univ. Council, Univ. of Costa Rica, “Minutes of
Session 1672,” vol. I, folio 1, 25 Nov. 1968.
10. “Aproximacio  n a Matilde” [Approaching Mat-
ilde], Semanario Universidad, 14 June 1971, p. 5.
11. “1620 Data Processing System,” IBM main-
frames product profiles, http://goo.gl/DJ3j1c.
12. According to its mission statement, the Univer-
sity Council “is the immediately hierarchical
organization following the University Assembly.
Its main mission is to define general institutional
policies and to oversee the management of the
University of Costa Rica.” See article 30 in this
document: http://goo.gl/cvmMqc.
13. “Centro de informacio  n en la ‘U’” [Information
Center at the University] La Nacio n, 14 Jan. 1974.
14. According to Mario Feoli, the Second University
Congress made the decision to create a system
of graduate studies and the first director, Fer-
nando Duran Ayanegui, asked him to design the
first syllabus for the computer science major for
students that already had a bachelor’s degree.
15. “Firman convenio para la donacio n de
computadora” [Contract Signed for Computer
Donation], La Nacio n, 14 Jan. 1974; Caldero n,
“Clotilde: Impulsora de la formacio  n universita-
ria en Computacio  n e Inform atica en Costa
Rica,” p. 2.
16. “Centro de Inform atica. 20 an~ os mirando el
futuro” [Computer Center: 20 Years Looking at the
Future], Semanario Universidad, 3 Dec. 1993, p. 2.
17. “Asesora de la UCR” [Advisor to the UCR], La
Nacion, 16 Jan. 1979; “Procesamientos a distan-
cia en corto tiempo” [Remote Processing in a
Short Time], Semanario Universidad, Feb. 1979.
18. Computer Center Archives, correspondence,
folio 94, Apr. 1979.
19. “Conferencia sobre computacio  n en la Universidad
de Costa Rica” [Conference on Computing at the
University of Costa Rica], La Nacio n, 31 Mar. 1977.
20. The training concentrated especially on the
Cobol and IBM Symbolic Programming System
(SPS) languages. M. Caldero  n, “Fundacio  n,
retos y primeros logros de la Escuela de Ciencias
de la Computacio  n e Inform atica [Foundation,
Challenges and First Achievements of the Com-
puter Science and Informatics Department], I
Simposio de Historia de la Informa tica de Ame rica
Latina y el Caribe (SHIALC), Oct. 2010.
21. Computer Center Archives, passive archive, box
07, pp. 84–132.
22. “Universidad estatales a la vanguardia en la
transmisio n de datos” [State University at the
Forefront of Data Transmission], Semanario Uni-
versidad, Suplemento Crisol 14, 9 Feb. 1990.
23. To study in greater detail the historical process
of the UCR interconnection to Bitnet and later,
in 1993, to the Internet, refer to G. Te ramond,
“Interconexio  n de Costa Rica a las grandes redes
de investigacio  n Bitnet and Internet” [Intercon-
nection of Costa Rica to Large Research Net-
works Bitnet and Internet], Ideario de la ciencia y
tecnologıa: Hacia el nuevo milenio [Ideology of
Science and Technology: Toward a New Millen-
nium], Ministry of Science and Technology
(MICIT), 1994; I. Siles Gonz alez, Por un suen ~o en
red.ado: Una historia de Internet en Costa Rica
(1990–2005) [By a Dream in Red.Ado: A History
of the Internet in Costa Rica (1990–2005)], Edi-
torial Universidad de Costa Rica, 2008.
24. “Una visita a ‘Matilde’” [A Visit to “Matilde”], El
Universitario, June 1969, p. 3; Caldero  n, “Clotilde:
Impulsora de la formacio  n universitaria en
Computacio  n e Inform atica en Costa Rica,” p. 2.
25. “Computador de la U. trabajo  553 horas” [Uni-
versity Computer Worked 553 Hours], La
Nacion, 16 Nov. 1969.
26. “Una computadora muy femenina y de mal gen-
io” [A Computer Very Feminine and Tempered],
Semanario Universidad, 15 Mar. 1979.
27. The Matilde funeral photo appeared in Sema-
nario Universidad, 3 Dec. 1993, p. 2.
October–December 2015 37
 Between Matilde and the Internet: Computerizing the University of Costa Rica (1968–1993)
28. E. Mendez, interview by D. Chavarrıa-Camacho,
29 Jan. 2014. The IBM 1620 is now on perma-
nent display at the Latin American Identity and
Culture Research Center (CIICLA) at UCR.
29. The signatures belonged to Vicente Bruno, Juan
Tovar, Eduardo Me ndez, Francisco Gonzalez,
and Jose Eduardo Porras. The printed sheet was
provided by Eduardo Me ndez, a current IC fac-
ulty member. Caldero  n, “Clotilde: Impulsora de
la formacio  n universitaria en Computacio n e
Inform atica en Costa Rica.”
30. “Universidad de Costa Rica adquiere sistema de
computacio  n B6920 de Burroughs” [University
of Costa Rica Acquires Burroughs B6920 Com-
puter System], La Nacio n, 2 Oct. 1981.
31. “Por falta de computadoras la Universidad
podrıa paralizarse” [For Lack of Computers the
University Could Be Paralyzed], Semanario Uni-
versidad, 20 Oct. 1980.
32. “UCR se prepara para cambios en sistema de
computacio n” [UCR Prepares for Changes in the
Computer System], Semanario Universidad, 15
May 2014; “Un an ~ o de congojas para el Centro de
Informatica” [A Year of Sorrow for the Computer
Center], Semanario Universidad, 23 Oct. 1981.
33. “Un nuevo personaje controla la Universidad” [A
New Character Controls the University], Sema-
nario Universidad, 1981, p. 7.
34. M. Feoli, interview by A. Lucıa Caldero  n-Saravia,
30 Jan. 2014; Caldero  n, “Fundacio  n, retos y pri-
meros logros de la Escuela de Ciencias de la
Computacio  n e Inform atica.”
35. The Collegiate Representative Assembly is one
of the two bodies that make up the University
Assembly, the university’s maximum decision-
making body, where all the university authorities
and faculty representatives from each school
and college participate. See www.cu.ucr.ac.cr/
normativ/estatuto organico.pdf.
36. “Asamblea de UCR objeto  plan para crear la
escuela de computacio  n” [UCR Assembly
Objected to the Plan to Create Computer School],
La Nacion, 22 Feb. 1980; “No habr a reformas al
centro de inform atica” [There
Will Be Reforms to the Computer Center], La
Prensa Libre, 25 Feb. 1980; “Asamblea de la UCR:
Rechazo  reformas al Centro de Inform atica”
[Assembly UCR: Rejected Reforms Computing
Center], Semanario Universidad, 29 Feb. 1980.
37. “UCR inauguro  nuevos equipos de co  mputo”
[UCR Opened New Computer Equipment], La
Prensa Libre, 27 Aug. 1990.
38. “UCR moderniza su sistema de co  mputo” [UCR
Modernizes Its Computer System], Semanario
Universidad, 24 Aug. 1990, p. 2.
39. “Piden que se publique contrato” [They Ask that
the Contract Be Published], Semanario Universi-
dad, 27 Oct. 1973; Caldero  n, “Clotilde: Impulsora
38 IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
de la formacio  n universitaria en Computaciœn e
Inform atica en Costa Rica,” p. 2–3.
40. “Por unanimidad: Aprueban contrato UCR-IBM”
[UCR-IBM Contract Approved Unanimously],
Semanario Universidad, 29 Oct. 1973.
41. The Cleotilde IBM 360/40 photo appeared in
Semanario Universidad, 4 Nov. 1974, p. 4.
42. Months later, after signing the contract, it would
be called the Computer Center.
43. “Alerta a la penetracio  n imperialista en la uni-
versidad” [Alert of the Imperialist Penetration in the
University], Semanario Universidad, 3 Sept. 1973.
44. “Donan a universidad moderna computadora”
[Modern Computer Donated to University], La
Nacio n, Oct. 1973; Caldero  n, “Clotilde: Impulsora
de la formacio  n universitaria en Computacio n e
Inform atica en Costa Rica,” p. 2–3.
45. “Universidad se opone a proyecto de
politecnico” [University Opposes Polytechnic
Project], La Nacio n, 22 Dec. 1969.
46. “Perjudicial divorcio entre la Universidad y el
Tecnolo  gico” [Harmful Divorce between the Uni-
versity and the Technological Institute], La
Republica, 15 May 1970, p. 7; “Tecnolo  gico ser
a un
instituto humanista” [Technological Institute Will Be
a Humanist Institute], La Repu blica, 16 May 1970.
47. “Determinar an necesidades computacionales”
[They Determine Computing Needs], Semanario
Universidad, 17 May 1985.
48. “Computacio  n gana terreno en la U” [Computer
Gaining Ground at the University] Semanario
Universidad, 27 June 1986.
49. G. Te ramond, “Interconnection of Costa Rica to
Large Research Networks Bitnet and Internet,”
Ideology of Science and Technology: Towards the
New Millennium, Ministry of Science and Tech-
nology, 1994.
50. Currently, the four public institutions of higher
education in Costa Rica are the University of
Costa Rica (UCR), the oldest, founded in 1940
and located in Montes de Oca in the province of
San Jose (see http://goo.gl/1Bwiu5); the Tech-
nological Institute of Costa Rica, (ITCR) founded
in 1971 and located in the province of Cartago
(see http://goo.gl/YVam2Q); the National Uni-
versity of Costa Rica (UNA), founded in 1973
and located in the province of Heredia (see
http://goo.gl/y2SZur); and the State Distance
University (UNED), founded in 1977 and located
next to UCR (see http://goo.gl/1mbwsX).
51. G. de Te ramond, interviewed by D. Chavarrıa-
Camacho, 12 Feb. 2014, 12 Feb. 2014.
52. RACSA had been acquired by the Costa Rican
Electricity Institute (ICE). The huge governmen-
tal company was in charge of providing elec-
tronic and telecommunication services.
53. “De BITNET a INTERNET” [From Bitnet to Inter-
net], Semanario Universidad, 17 June 1994, p. 23.
54. “ALCATEL de Costa Rica instala en la Universidad
de Costa Rica Red Digital de Servicios Integrados
(RDSI)” [ALCATEL of Costa Rica Installed a Digi-
tal Network Integrated Services (ISDN) at the
University of Costa Rica], Semanario Universidad,
3 Dec. 1993, p. 3.
Ronny Viales-Hurtado is a
professor and researcher in the
Department of History at the
Central America Historical Re-
search Center and in the Social
Studies of Science, Technique,
and Environment Research Pro-
gram of the Center of Geophy-
sics Research of the University of Costa Rica. His
research interests include economic history, envi-
ronmental history, and science and technology stud-
ies. Viales-Hurtado has a PhD in history from the
Autonomous University of Barcelona. Contact him
at ronny.viales@ucr.ac.cr.
Ana Lucıa Caldero  n-Sara-
via is a master’s student in
anthropology, a co-coordinator
and researcher in the Social
Studies of Science, Technique,
and Environment Research Pro-
gram of the Center of Geophy-
sics Research, a consultant and
researcher in the Department of Research and Aca-
demic Evaluation, and a professor in the Anthropol-
ogy Department at the University of Costa Rica. Her
research interests include anthropology of techno
science, gender studies, sustainable development,
environment, and organization. Contact her at
ana.calderon@ucr.ac.cr.
David Chavarrıa-Cama-
cho is a master’s student in his-
tory and a researcher of the
Social Studies of Science, Tech-
nique, and Environment Re-
search Program of the Center of
Geophysics Research at the
University of Costa Rica. His
research interests include science, technology, and
society (STS), the history of computing, and issues
related to the connection between technology and
politics. Contact him at davidarturo.chavarria@
ucr.ac.cr.
October–December 2015 39